New York Fashion Week Autumn/ Winter 2013: Top Hair Trends
So the fashion weeks are on again! It’s arguably one of the most exciting times of the year for those of us in the fashion and styling industry! If you’re a lover of all things trendy, beautiful, and voguish yourself you’re probably just as pumped up as I am!

New York was just as dazzling and sophisticated as ever! We saw a lot of different hair trends emerging on the runways. I can see that quite a few of them are going to be a hit off the catwalks too! I decided to put together a look of my top 5 favorite hair trends from the New York Fashion Week Autumn/ Winter 2013. We’ve got quite a mix here: from funky ponytails for everyday wear to Red Carpet glam updos for the fanciest of occasions!

1. Rodarte

At the Rodarte show, the models wore their hair down, in messy waves that were accentuated with really interesting metal spiked headbands and side braids meeting in a bun at the back. Without an accessory, this is a great everyday look and also something stylish you can throw together when you can’t quite wear your hair plain but you don’t want to make a fuss over it either. If you do want to add some oomph to the look, a unique headband is just the thing you’re looking for!

Here’s How You Can Get It:

This is a look you can create on second day hair too, if you don’t have time to wash before you style your hair. If you are washing it, wait for it to dry out naturally or use a diffuser so that you don’t end up with super sleek hair.

If you’ve got naturally straight hair and you want to reproduce this look perfectly, braid your hair while it’s still damp into loose, one-inch braids and then allow it to dry. This will create some natural, beachy waves in your hair.

Part your hair down the middle. You don’t have to be particularly precise with the parting, just make sure it’s more or less straight. Leave an inch of hair loose at the front on both sides and use curling tongs to add a bit of curl to these front sections. Let them hang loose and frame your face.

Then, pick up a section of hair from right behind the curled sections on both sides. Braid these in regular braids towards the back of your head. You can pick up one or two-inch sections depending on how prominent you want the braids to be. The braids should basically go around your head like a halo and meet at the back.

Pin the two braids into place at the back using bobby pins. Insert the bobby pins at an angle into the braids and cross them over each other to get them nice and tight. You want the braids to stay up firmly at the back of your head.

Undo the parts of the braids that hang below the pinned section. Coil these parts around each other into a small layered bun at the back of your head and pin it into place over the braids. You can also simply loosen the braids and then coil them around each other for a more flower-like bun.

And that’s it! You’re done! Add a funky headband for some extra edginess.

2. Carolina Herrera

Carolina Herrera’s look was distinctly feminine, inspired by 1940s cinematic glamour. If you’re looking for a hairstyle that’s the perfect blend of allure, femininity and vintage-appeal, this rolled and tucked updo is perfect! Whether you’re wearing it with a long flowing skirt or a crisp, tailored suit, this is the kind of hairstyle that’s sure to get you noticed wherever you go!

Here’s How You Can Get It:

Begin with washing your hair and blow-drying it as straight as you can. If you’ve got particularly wavy or unruly hair, you should use a straightening iron to smoothen out your locks. Make sure you use a heat protectant spray before you do either though!

After your hair is dry and sleek, brush through it and part it down the middle. This look is a bit prim, and very ladylike, so be as precise with the parting as you can. Divide your hair into three parts: the two sides and the back. Comb through the three sections again to make sure your hair is really sleek.

Take one of the front sections and then start twisting it in on itself towards the back. You’re basically pinching the hair into twists along your hairline and moving towards the back of your head. Keep adding bobby pins to the rolled hair from the inside (not at the front) so that the twists stay in place.

Repeat this step with the other front section. Both the twisted sections will meet at the back. Cross them over each other and then pin them into place using bobby pins. If you have very heavy or thick hair and you feel the sections won’t stay pinned in place you can even tie them into a low ponytail.

Twist the section at the back/ the ponytail in on itself, moving upwards towards the nape of your neck. This is the last section and once it’s rolled up it should cover the spot where the other two sections meet and overlap. Pin this last rolled section into place with pins.

Use some hairspray to add a bit of support to the look. If you’ve used your bobby pins properly the look will hold up through the day!

3. Anna Sui

The pageboy bouffant seen at Anna Sui’s fashion show is a great way to have some fun with your hair and infuse a high dose of voluminous glamour into your look. This is a great look for when you want to do something unusual and striking but don’t want to spend hours perfecting a really tough style either!

Here’s How You Can Get It:

Your hair needs to be really sleek and straight for this look, so begin by washing and conditioning it, and follow it up with blow-drying it straight. Use a shine serum before you blow-dry your hair for extra smoothness and gloss.

Comb your hair towards the back and gather it up high at the back of your head. We don’t want any parting for this look.

Secure all your hair in a high ponytail. If you want to reproduce the exact look, leave a small section of hair free and once the ponytail is ready, wrap that section around the base of the ponytail to cover the elastic. Pin the wrapped section into place with a bobby pin such that the pin falls under the “hood” formed by the ponytail.

Now, you start teasing the ponytail. Lift small sections and backcomb them and keep layering them back on each other by letting them fall over one another. Backcombing is the key to getting all the volume for this pageboy-style bouffant. The more you backcomb, the more volume you’ll get.

Once you’re happy with the kind of volume you’ve achieved, take a comb and lightly brush the top of the voluminous ponytail to smoothen out the surface that’s visible. Don’t brush through it: you just want to give the visible section a sleek look.

Now, take the ends of the ponytail and pin them onto your head while fanning the ponytail out to form a big, bun-like bouffant across the back of your head. You can even roll a bit of the ends in while pinning if your hair’s too long and the bouffant ‘hangs’ lower than the nape of your neck.

Fanning out the ponytail can result in some gaps on the top. Rearrange your hair at the top to cover any sections in the bouffant’s façade. Once you’re happy with how it looks, use a stronghold hairspray to secure the style.

4. Michael Kors

I love the hairstyle we saw at Michael Kors’ fashion show! It’s always so much fun when someone finds a way to make an everyday ponytail look just a little bit interesting, just a little bit exciting. The super sleek, shiny tape-wrapped ponytail makes for such an easy yet funky hairstyle.

Here’s How You Can Get It:

You probably know how to make a really sleek, high ponytail but let’s just go through the motions for formality’s sake, shall we?

Start with freshly washed and blow-dried hair. Use a straightened if you want your locks to be poker straight. The models at the Michael Kors’ show were wearing a subtle, single wave in their ponytails. It’s a great trick to add some dimension and flow to a simple ponytail but you can go as straight or wavy as you like.

Gather your hair in a really high ponytail. When you’re doing so, keep brushing and combing through the hair at the crown so that you can get it to be really slick and lay very flat on your head. Use a shine serum or a gloss-boosting product to really make your hair look super healthy.

Once you’re happy with how your hair looks, secure it in a ponytail using a clear elastic band.

If you want to add some waves to your hair you can by using curling tongs or hot rollers. If not, skip this step.

Now, the whole appeal of this look is in how the ponytails have been jazzed up. It’s really very simple, but the effect is amazing! The bases of the ponytails were covered in black tape, which added a really funky, graphic look to an otherwise simple look.

You’re probably not very comfortable wrapping tape around your hair, and with good reason! I can only just imagine how tough it would be to get sticky tape off your hair! What you can do instead is using a thicker rubber band or hair scrunchie in the same color as your hair and layer the tape over it. Or if you want a really flattened out look for the tape, use a metal hair cone or a flat barrette and wind the tape over that.

Brush through your ponytail and that’s about it. You can tame any flyaways with a bit of hairspray sprayed onto a comb or even a drop of Argan oil. You don’t really need to add any hairspray to this look: if you’ve secured the ponytail properly, it should hold up okay through the day!

5. Jason Wu

Out of all my picks from the New York Fashion Week Autumn/ Winter 2013, the hairstyle from Jason Wu’s show is undoubtedly the most glamorous and most formal one. It’s a really sleek, sectioned and wrapped chignon with some metallic accents. It’s a fabulous look for a super glamorous evening.

Here’s How You Can Get It:

Now, admittedly this might be a tough one to pull off on your first attempt at home, but don’t lose heart! A little bit of practice is all you need for a look like this.

Your hair needs to be squeaky clean, super sleek and poker straight for this look. It’s one of those styles where straightening your hair really brings out multiple dimensions in the look.

Begin by combing your straightened hair till it is really shiny. Add a shine serum to make the hair glossy. Be careful though, you don’t want to go overboard and end up with sticky hair.

I’ll share a slightly simplified version of this look with you, so that even styling beginners can do this look at home without difficulty.

Part your hair down the middle and comb it into three regular sections, one on each side and then the rest at the back.

Pull the sections at the side to the front and use styling clips to secure them while you work on the section at the back. You don’t want any hair to get tangled or pulled back.

From the section at the back, start by gathering the hair from the very bottom and roll it into a small chignon and fix it at the nape of your neck with bobby pins or a clear elastic band. If you want to add more depth and style to the chignon you can actually braid tthe hair first and then roll it into a bun for a more elaborate look.

Once your chignon’s in place, start working on creating the layered look. This is the trickiest part of this style. This is where we style the two front sections such that they crisscross over the back of the head and over the chignon to create a structured, layered look.

Separate one inch of hair at the very front on both sides. These sections will be styled at the very end. You can simply pin them away from the rest of your hair for now.

Now, move to the rest of the front sections. Start by picking a wide section of hair from one of the sides and gently, carefully drawing it over the back of your head at an angle such that it goes around the chignon.

You have to pull these sections back diagonally, take them around and under the chignon and then loop them around the bun and fix them in with bobby pins.

Don’t disturb the middle-part while you pull the hair back. The section should lay flat against your hair and stretch back towards, under and around the chignon.

Now do the same thing with an equal-sized section from the other side at the front, only make sure you layer it over the first side.

Repeat the process until hair from both the front sections has been fixed around the chignon. At the end, the different layered sections will create a basket weave-like pattern at the back of your head.

The most important step is to create the crisscross pattern carefully, so if you’re having trouble looping each section around the chignon, simply tuck each section into the chignon or under its base and pin it in. whatever you’re comfortable with!

Now, come back to the two one inch-wide sections at the very front. Undo them and straighten to make sure they’re very sleek. Take one section and simply pull it down from behind your ear and around your hairline and pin it into place under the chignon. Repeat this step with the other side and pin that under the bun too. These two sections should create a U from the front to the back of your head and sort of encapsulate the whole style and frame it all.

To complete the look, take two metallic barrettes and pin them into the topmost crossed layer. This is an optional step for if you want to jazz up the look. For a more sophisticated and classy vibe, skip this step.